How can I request a book or other item that is not owned by AACPL?

Answer

To request a book that is not currently owned by AACPL, first check to see if it available in the Maryland state interlibrary loan catalog, Marina. 

If the item is unavailable to borrow in Marina, please fill out our request form and a library staff member will respond to you about whether the item is available to borrow via our nationwide lending network.

If it is a newer item, you can submit a purchase suggestion by logging in to your library account and selecting "Purchase Suggestions" from your account menu. After selecting "Submit a New Purchase Suggestion," you will be prompted to fill out a form with the details of your request. 

Once you have submitted your suggestion, the request will be sent to our Materials Management Department for consideration. You can track the status of your request directly from your account. If they decide to purchase the item, the status of your purchase suggestion will show as "Ordered." You can then search our online catalog for the item and place a hold on it. This process can take several months to complete.

Please note that purchase requests cannot be placed prior to the item's publication date.

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  • Last Updated Jun 17, 2024
  • Views 8500
  • Answered By Stephanie L. Petruso

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Comments (4)

  1. May I ask, how new must a title be to be eligible for purchase? Thank you!
    by Melony on May 16, 2023
  2. As a general rule, items that are six months old or newer will be submitted as a purchase request, while we will try to obtain materials older than six months through interlibrary loan.
    by AACPL on May 16, 2023
  3. I recently requested two new books that have been published within the past six months, not owned by any library in Maryland. Rather than the AACPL purchasing them, they were shipped in for brief loan periods from libraries in Utah and Chicago. Is that the case with all requests? How does the library decide what they will purchase? Thank you!
    by Reader on Jun 27, 2023
  4. Books newer than six months will be submitted to our Materials Management Department as requests for purchase. They refer to our Collection Development Policy to determine whether to purchase them or not - if not, library staff will try to find a copy via interlibrary loan. You can see the Collection Development Policy here: https://www.aacpl.net/policies/collection-development-policy
    by AACPL on Jun 28, 2023